We camped at a small, family run campground on picturesque Turtle Lake, where we were happy to escape the heat advisories with a dunk in the water and an afternoon floating on rafts. The kids gathered large snail shells, watched frogs and minnows, and serenaded everyone.
For eight of us, it was truly a reunion. In the close to 20 years or so, that we've all been going to concerts and camping together, lots has changed. We first saw The Grateful Dead each summer at Deer Creek, Alpine Valley and Soldier Field and later, after Jerry Garcia died, we made the same mini tour with Phish.
None of us had children of our own. And camping was not just a place to crash after the show, but a fun bonding experience. Three of our friends are now high school teachers and college professors, many have higher degrees, we're all scattered across the Midwest, and we have 4 new humans among us, two of whom came along for the ride.
We even broached the subject of a living will, and asked our friends, Danielle and Tim, to raise Du-Jay and Sagezilla in the event something happens to us in the next 12 years, before the kids are legal adults. One always hopes that will be a non issue, but we didn't want to strand the kids without a plan or have the lawyers plop the kids on their porch unannounced some day! Our friends didn't run screaming, but tearfully and happily hugged us. We had to make them promise not to hire a hit man or run us off the road just to inherit Du-Jay and Sagezilla.
Coinkidink 1: We drove several hours in from Chicago and our two friends came from The Deer Creek shows in Indianapolis via an overnight in Lisle with friends. We left from different points at completely different times and pulled in to the camp ground within minutes of each other.
Coinkidink 2: In parking lots full of thousands of cars, we were in the same row as our friend from Summercamp and Metronome Fest, River's Mama.
In 2004 in the Phish lot, we parked literally next to our old Naprapath and friend, Dr. Drew, whom we hadn't seen in a year.
Coinkidink 3: The kids talked about what songs they'd like to hear Phish play and got 4 of them their first night! Three of those songs had been answers to a 3 question trivia game we made up and played in the car on the way to the show.
Coinkidink 4: We were talking with a woman in the lot, making necklaces, and discovered she grew up near where Dug did. Her family business bought their place from his relatives...next to a place owned by the company his Dad worked for till retirement. Small world.
We were near the front of the lawn for the 2nd night, and the kids caught literally hundreds of glo sticks to throw back out into the crowd (or in Zilla's case, also into the face of a guy who was in her space). They wrote messages on balloons and sent them soaring into the audience. Sagezilla made balloon works of art, her favorite being a creepy and detailed "baby vampire crying blood tears, because he's too young to HUNT." The flip side of the same balloon was a cute little anime looking frog with long lashes.
She sent it into the crowd, where it vanished, only to have it come back to her about 15 minutes later. She was on my shoulders, excitedly following its progress, as it bounced around the crowd. But, like a boomerang, it kept returning to her. She was happily laughing as she virtually played catch with an audience of over 40,000. Even the security guards got in on the act, spiking the little vampire back to Sagezilla when it ricocheted out of our section.
Finally, after multiple balloon rebounds, Sage had to pee, so she made the long trek up the steep slope, to the back of Alpine Valley, with the vampire balloon clutched in her hand. It lasted through the two of us skipping to and from the portalets and magically meeting up with the male half of our family, who had made a break for the potties a half hour before. The baby vamp lasted through the kids rolling down the back side of the steep hill repeatedly.
Then...... it popped. Sagezilla wailed, "I worked so hard on that balloon!" and I gently reminded her that that's the nature of bubbles and balloons. But she got to fill it with her breath, created it, and enjoyed it immensely while it lasted. "She smiled and happily exclaimed. I got to see it die!" Du-Jay added, " You were there for the balloon's whole life cycle!"
Dug put up with the rest of us, since it's not his favorite music by a long shot. That's true love for ya--and on Father's Day, even. But, he got a few good weeks of grumbling mileage out of it and got to keep his Punk Cred.
Please remember to vote for ChiIL Mama for best blog, Chicago. You can vote daily through July 15th, by clicking on the circular button--the bright shiny button--to the right, under the slide show and selecting ChiIL Mama. Thank you. Tomorrow we're off to Portland, OR. So our next post will be from the coast!
Got this link from miners page, that is awesome! I have been to about 40 shows from '95 to '99. I have a little one (8 months) now and will only be able to go to toyota park. Hopefully I will see you guys there. Have a great summer! Tony
ReplyDelete